The north shore is a quieter lifestyle, and residents get very excited when something new opens. Such was the case over the weekend, when Felix’s opened the doors in the space that was formerly N’Tini’s,...and Rockefeller’s,...and Creola. This will likely be the one that lasts, mainly because this is part of a group that is expanding, with the money to do so.
I am not a fan of Felix’s but I think this one will be good. It is beautiful. They did a great job with the redo, and maybe the food is a little better because the environment is so bright and pretty. A word about open kitchens: they are great if everyone inside them remembers that they are on stage. Last night I did not want to see my flaming chargrilled oysters blown out by mouth .. And that was a manager!
But the food that came to the table was promising. We got half a dozen chargrilled oysters that had an odd flavor, which implies bad but I actually liked it. Breadcrumbs made the difference, but there was not a lot of parmesan cheese.
ML liked her very large and pretty wedge salad with big chunks of bleu cheese.
We asked for a sampler platter of Rockefeller and Bienville and du jour, which was Buffalo. These Buffalo oysters were really good. The Rockefeller and Bienville were nothing special but were good enough. We also got the Bayou Sampler appetizer, which included three sides of red beans and rice, crawfish etouffee, and jambalaya. The jambalaya was a Creole red one, which earned it a thumbs down immediately. We are definitely brown jambalaya people. The crawfish etouffee was fine, very spicy, and the red beans were pretty much a sauce. In what is often called the “creamy” style, there was not much shape to any bean. But they still had a nice flavor. Both came with too much rice, that had that disastrous-but-difficult-to-achieve quality of being too mushy and not cooked at the same time.
This sounds way worse than it was. The flavors were there for the most part, but the technique needs work, which is why Tom doesn’t go to new restaurants unless he is dragged, as he was last weekend. But nothing here was bad enough to stay away from what is a very nice looking and feeling restaurant with a staff that aims to please. The north shore needs more places like that.
Felix’s
2891 Hwy 190 Mandeville
felixs.com
